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23 Comments

I don't check my site metrics enough, so I built a Whatsapp tool!

  1. 2

    Hmm, compared to implementing a chatbot on Telegram, how much effort is there in integrating WhatsApp?

    I'm going to ship a Telegram bot in the upcoming weeks, but would love to be able to offer support for WhatsApp, too!

    1. 1

      Hey Corstian!

      The tool sounds awesome!

      WhatsApp was a big pain in the ass if I'm honest. It took we weeks for approval and with their strict template the tool is still having some teething issues - not ideal to be honest.

      The way it works is if a user messages you, you have a 24h period where you can say whatever you like to them, beyond 24h you need to abide by a template - something like "Your delivery will be with you at {{1}}". This makes it very challenging if you change the script in any way.

  2. 2

    Oh nice idea, I can see this being useful to people. Now if only I used Google Analytics!

    1. 1

      Hi @rosiesherry, thanks for the feedback!

      I'll definitely add this to my features and see if it's something I can easily integrate the tool with.

      I'm still learning about the audience and how they're using the tool so any feedback on what you're looking to get out of it, or how you view your data is highly welcomed!

    2. 1

      Hi, @rosiesherry out of curiosity, why you don't use GA and what do you use instead?

      1. 2

        I'm going down the more privacy focused route.

        I use SimpleAnalytics.

        Fathom and Plausible are worth looking at too.

          1. 1

            Fathom user checking in

  3. 1

    Thats a great tool. Actually you can run daily scheduled reports too on Analytics.

    1. 1

      Hey Tejas!

      You absolutely can :) They are just a bit clunky if you ask me.

      Data studio is a little cleaner but all of them suffer with their mobile experience.

      This tool is still MVP, but I've got a new iteration with elegant easy to read mobile friendly reports coming :)

  4. 1

    This is really cool just signed up. I know nothing about analytics so the simplification is great. Will let you know how it goes.

    1. 1

      Thanks for signing up! I've actually been wanting to chat with you as I believe some permissions were declined and the tool is struggling to get messages over to you.

      I'd emailed you but I think it was a generic email address.

      Feel free to reach out to me directly!

  5. 1

    Nice! I'm excited to see that you're making metric monitoring more accessible, especially on GA where many people struggle with navigating the tool. Good luck on the release!

    1. 1

      Thanks for the support Blake! I'll definitely post more updated on IH with my progress and more importantly, my learnings!

  6. 1

    Going to share with my network now. This is perfect, I hate signing into GA and doing anything extra. Having more things sent to my whatspp is good while I am on the go!

    1. 1

      Thanks very much Bree! If there are specific reports you access daily it would be great to get some feedback as to what you most value in GA - happy to build that in :)

  7. 1

    Could you please share how did you integrate whatsapp ? do you use node, java, php... ?
    Could i make a simple whatsapp bot for myself, for example that sends me timed information on daily basis ?

    1. 1

      Hey John! Sorry about the delayed reply, for some reason I didn't get alerted on any of these messages!

      As Jacob(jdcc) said, I'm currently using Twilio API for this, it has taken ages to get whatsapp approval and whatsapp has a strict policy on messaging people - you're only allowed templated messages so they completely stop any "freeform" text - tricky API I must say!

    2. 1

      I'm not OP but briefly looked Twilio has an API, for US messages cost $0.0135 so far

  8. 1

    Interesting. How are you addressing the issue of privacy here? I, like many others am very sensitive in sharing my phone number.

    1. 1

      Hey Chandra,

      Completely fair point - in terms of privacy, I'll be updating the policy shortly but in a nutshell the data will not be shared in any way whatsoever. It's stored in a secure database to which I only have access and it's on the Google stack so security is taken care of.

      I respect the STOP message embedded into the tool which blocks the tool from contacting you any more.

      In a nutshell - I will not contact you via any other means other than whatsapp and email (for updates or errors) and it will not be shared with any 3rd party in any way.

  9. 1

    Hmm interesting idea adding/extending services for WhatsApp

    edit: oh I was thinking of WeChat, I guess WhatsApp wonder how many people actually use that since SMS isn't really an issue in US.

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